Webinars

Over 1,100 people logged into live chat for Sarita's talk during the fast-paced Virtual Meetup on June 1. Ellen H of Oregon won a free Core, and homeschooling parents everywhere got a little boost of encouragement. Even if you missed the Meetup, scroll down to let the sessions encourage you now.

The Meetup came with its fair share (ok ... a pretty large share) of technical frustrations. We apologize if those technical problems affected you. We're listening to customer feedback; click here to read what we learned for next time.

Get a feel for some of the emotions of June 1 with my blog post that starts: "That was about as close to an epic fail as we've ever had."

Enjoy these sessions:

Sarita Holzmann: Why Homeschool

With Q&A - 30 minutes

John Holzmann: History of Sonlight

55 minutes

Sonlight Field Tour

What we learned

We faced many unexpected surprises the day of the Virtual Meetup. Contrary to what we had believed, the webinar program we were using could only accept 96 people per session and the webinar phone number was not toll-free. Oh, and Internet Explorer likes to crash when accessing giant chat rooms.

We did NOT clearly explain what participants should expect or what they should do when they joined the Virtual Meetup. It wasn't clear where to find each session, many who wanted to join webinars couldn't, and the live chat whizzed by at overwhelming speeds.

The good news? Lots of people still felt greatly encouraged, we have a better idea of what to expect ... and we have plenty of room for improvement!

How (we hope) the next Virtual Meetup will be better

Come to the next Virtual Meetup expecting to spend more time enjoying the event and less time frustrated with technology. The next one hasn't been scheduled. But here are some things we hope to improve:

We'll strive to choose the best (affordable) technology to keep things simple and give you a pleasant experience. The event will still be completely free for you.

We'll strive to put ourselves in your shoes and clearly explain what to do and what to expect ahead of time.

We plan to open the chat room an hour before the event so you can log in and get the hang of things without missing any sessions.

We hope to keep all sessions on one screen. We hope to put the webinar/workshop material and the live presentations on the same screen, one after another. If you attended last time, all sessions will probably work like John and Sarita's sessions. You won't have to call in for anything, there won't be limits on the number of people who can watch/participate in the workshops. You can just watch the video, join the chat, participate in Q&A and be encouraged.

We plan to provide space for different kinds of chat. For example, we might clearly designate the main chat room as the place for discussion about the main event happening at that time. Then we could have separate chat rooms for "meet and greet" or other topic-specific chats.

The next Virtual Meetup will undoubtedly surprise us with some technical glitches as well. But know that we have learned a lot and will strive for a much smoother user experience. After all, a Virtual Meetup should be about fun, encouragement and connections ... not fighting technology!

Thank you for the patience and grace you demonstrated on June 1. We look forward to more meetups in the future.

It's not every day that a curriculum company turns 20 years old. This is a special year for our beloved customers, our company staff and all friends of Sonlight. Twenty years of offering the best of the best curriculum while getting to know and serve you—that's worth a lot!

Sarita Holzmann shares some of what Sonlight has accomplished in the last 20 years.

2010 T-shirt Design Contest

Congratulations to Amanda R for her winning design! Click here for more details (including how to buy a shirt).